I bought it. That game was something special.

A poorly designed game, great story, had potential to be truly great.

I bought it Skeeuk...And loved it like you. Played first 4-5 hours and thought that this is going to be one of those "so terrible its a classic" games.

But then the game becomes a completely open world game, with Shenmue like time management, where you have to screw around until a certain timeframe which is when the mission starts. And I lost patience waiting for these events.

Despite that, the game has some really interesting momentsand like you said, is pretty funny. The dialoge lead character has with himself alone is worth renting this game...So Id recommend renting it just to see a game which does something you've never seen before and will never ever see again. Also there are some really nifty gameplay ideas at times...like a really tense picture in picture moment showing your view while hiding in a locker and killers view while he is looking for you.

I just wish they didn't try to implement an open world...then it would have been all that and then some. 

That's what the cigarettes are for. When you smoke, they allow you to fast forward through time.

lol...really? Fudge...I wish I knew this.

I know! I don't think it was explained in the game itself; it's just something that I discovered while playing. It's both a charm and flaw of the game - kind of in an old school poorly translated 8-bit game kind of way. It was really satisfying discovering it though!

I bought it, fiddled with the awful controls, died due to a really cheap QTE, got booted back to an earlier checkpoints, and haven't played it since.

Really, I feel like I got all I needed from this game just from watching the random videos of it.

I was the first person on VGC to buy it.

Its a fantastic game. Is it imperfect? Absolutely. But the fact is...You bought it for $20, what did you expect? I paid $60 for Alan Wake and $20 for Deadly Premonition on launch day. I've played DP far more.

The storyline is fantastic. If you haven't finished it, you really got to. It gets really, really good. Are the controls and graphics hokey? Yes. Are the lines, at times, cheezy? Yes. But overall, its just a great game that has one of the better stories of a game this generation. I'm crazy for saying it, but I'd put it up there in my top-5 for best storylines of the generation.

lol...I remember you praising the game. Kinda why I got it... I'm kinda sad that I didn't have the patience to finish it now that you say that story gets great later. I found the story great so far so I can imagine how cool it may get... I guess I may go back to it later.

There are quite a few twists and turns near the end, when you find out who the killer is...And how it plays into everything.

Its pretty open-ended for a sequel, too. I'd love to see them do another one with a better budget and fixing some of the problems (controls, animations).

Cigarrettes, eh?  Okay.  I'll pick up where I left off, today.  The game has it's charm, but like disolitude said, the open world kills it.  I guess it deserves a second chance.